Mission Codename In retrospect
We know, we know… more Cabernet! But you love it, we love it, and so do your neighbors and family and kids, even if they don’t know it yet.
Especially at this price. $100 from the winery. Maybe $75 if you’re super lucky at a local market, and… can that be? Why yes, it is. $49 from us.
Hindsight is a boutique producer, and this comes from their estate vineyard perched at 2,000 feet up on Howell Mountain neighboring Beringer’s Steinhauer Ranch, just around the corner from Dunn Vineyards. Currently Michael Weis makes the wines, and he got started at Mondavi before a lengthy 26-year tenure at Groth. The 2016s were made by his equally venerable, now retired predecessor Jac Cole, with a resume spanning Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Charles Krug, and Spring Mountain Winery.
This is ripe, full-bodied, and creamy - in other words exactly what your soul craves. Super integrated and polished front to back. Gently extracted but not overtly done with dark blue, black, and red fruit, plums, blueberry, vanilla, cassis, and a hint of sweet black licorice unraveling in layer upon layer. Smooth tannins moonwalk across your palate with velvety softness. Just prime stuff, really. It’s the grip on the finish that speaks of the Howell factor here, long, complex, and simply peerless.
Zero press. And that’s a good thing, otherwise, this would have been long gone. If you’re the type who reads between the lines, this Antonio Galloni’s Vinous recap says it all: “Napa Valley enjoyed an extraordinary vintage in 2016. The bottled 2016s are every bit as viscerally thrilling as they were from barrel. Best of all, 2016 is a captivating vintage from top to bottom, with a bevy of stunning wines for every palate and budget, as well as a number of bottles that are destined to become icons.”
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate echoes “as a wine critic it is only natural that, when preparing a vintage report, I am constantly looking for something to criticize… I’ve now tasted more than 2,000 (and counting) 2016 Napa Valley wines in bottle over the past couple of months and can only report - sorry - this is a particularly tough vintage to criticize.”
We’ll spare you the “in hindsight you should’ve bought more” stuff …and just say this: if you dig Howell Mountain Cab (who doesn’t?) you need this in your life.
Tasting Profile
Plums, blueberry, vanilla, cassis, sweet black licorice
Look | Deep, dark ruby in rare parts where light barely penetrates |
---|---|
Smell | Plums, blueberry, vanilla, cassis, a hint of sweet black licorice |
Taste | Ripe, full-bodied, creamy with dark blue, black, and red fruit |
Finish | The grip speaks of Howell, long, complex, and simply peerless |
Pairing | Bone-in low and slow roasts, wild mushrooms, aged cheeses |
What the Winery Says
2016 Bella Vetta Vineyard Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
- Winemaker
- Jac Cole
- Varietal
- 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
- Vintage
- 2016
- Alcohol
- 14.7%
- Appellation
- Howell Mountain, Napa Valley
- Vineyard
- Bella Vetta Vineyard
- Elevation
- ~2,000 feet above sea level
- Size
- 1.9 acres
- Vine age
- 15+ years old
- Total acidity
- 7.02 g/L
- pH
- 3.52
- Aging
- 24 months
- Barrels
- 50% new French oak